Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US
Under a brutal regime, what price must be paid to preserve truth, treasure and love
in a world built on lies.
I'm pleased to welcome author Elisabeth Storrs to The Writing Desk:
Tell us about your latest book
Thanks so much for hosting my book on your blog. Fables & Lies: A World War II Novel features Freyja Bremer, a patriotic museum assistant, raised on Nazi dogma. Through her love affair with Cambridge educated archaeologist, Darien Lessing, her eyes are opened to the rot beneath the Regime’s lies, as they both strive to protect their nation’s antiquities, in particular, Priam’s Treasure from Troy.
Intertwined is Freyja’s forced marriage to Kaspar Voigt, a scholar from Himmler’s research institute, the SS Ahnenerbe. As such, Freyja’s safekeeping efforts and her journey to enlightenment form the spine of the novel, with her quest to learn about her husband’s twisted research threaded through the narrative. In this way, I explore the bravery of German museum curators as well as Himmler’s promulgation of the ‘Aryan Myth’ to justify invasion, dispossession and genocide.
What is your preferred writing routine?
What is your preferred writing routine?
I am quite disciplined with my writing so I sit down at my desk from around 10 am to 6.30 pm on my allocated writing days. However, I usually find my imagination really fires up in the afternoons so I tend to deal with research or structuring in the morning.
What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
Perseverance and practice! I believe in ‘bum glue’. You won’t finish a novel if you don’t schedule a time in your diary and actually sit down to write. It’s amazing what you can achieve in even a few hours per week.
What have you found to be the best way to raise awareness of your books?
This is an interesting question because there is a difference between marketing and publicity. Word of mouth among bloggers, reviewers and fellow authors is really important in raising ‘brand’ awareness but sales only really flow from free or discount promotions for short bursts of time. This helps with visibility on Amazon in various sub-categories. I’m lucky that my publisher is prepared to use this strategy but it’s important to set a budget and track return on investment if you are an indie author.
Tell us something unexpected you discovered during your research
Fables & Lies arose from my fascination with the archaeologist, Heinrich Schliemann, who not only proved the ancient city of Troy existed but also discovered Priam’s Treasure. Schliemann smuggled the trove out of Turkey then ‘bequeathed’ it to the German people. During WWII, the treasure was kept in the Pre and Early History Museum in Berlin in a street then known as Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse (now Niederkirchnerstrasse).
The museum was housed at No. 7 in an amazing building known as Martin Gropius Bau. When I visited Berlin I was astounded to find the building was next to Gestapo HQ at No.8 (an ominous address). As a result, Martin Gropius Bau was under constant threat of becoming collateral damage. Freyja risks her life packing the collections while watching the museum take hit after hit.
Niederkirchnerstrasse stands today as a time capsule for various eras in Berlin’s history. No.8 has been razed. A museum known as ‘The Topography of Terrors’ has been established to serve as a reminder of the oppression of the Regime. The street also holds echoes of misery from the German Democratic Republic as a section of the Berlin Wall that ran down the middle of the road remains.
Niederkirchnerstrasse stands today as a time capsule for various eras in Berlin’s history. No.8 has been razed. A museum known as ‘The Topography of Terrors’ has been established to serve as a reminder of the oppression of the Regime. The street also holds echoes of misery from the German Democratic Republic as a section of the Berlin Wall that ran down the middle of the road remains.
Next to this wasteland, Martin Gropius Bau rises in its splendour. The West Germans reconstructed it in 1978 with further renovations occurring after reunification. It is a delight to behold – one of the most beautiful historic buildings in Berlin – well worth a visit.
What was the hardest scene you remember writing?
Given the novel is set in wartime, there were many scenes I found harrowing to write as I highlight the suffering experienced by Berliners under Allied blockbuster bombs. I also deal with dark episodes of Himmler’s research programs. However, one scene I found difficult to write was early in the novel when Freyja is swept off her feet by Kaspar who has gained fame as an explorer on an expedition to Tibet.
Himmler sent such scholars to the Himalayas to find traces of ‘Proto-Aryans’ who had survived the sinking of Atlantis. The theory was Germans were descendants of these super-humans who had spread throughout the world to seed all great civilisations. This partially underpinned the concept of the ‘Aryan Myth’. As such German-Nordic people were supposedly part of the ‘Master Race’. I knew I was spouting dangerous rhetoric but it was important to demonstrate how Freyja had been indoctrinated throughout her schooling by such ideology so readers can appreciate her journey to enlightenment.
What are you planning to write next?
What are you planning to write next?
After the battle of Berlin, Soviet Trophy Brigades stole Priam’s Treasure and transported it from Germany only to claim it had been lost in transit to Moscow in the post-war chaos. The whereabouts of the gold was unknown for 50 years until the Russians admitted in the 1990s they had hidden it in a secret room in the Pushkin Museum.
I am currently writing the ‘companion’ novel to Fables & Lies entitled The Pinocchio Door. Spanning 4,000 years, I tell the journey of Priam’s Treasure through the eyes of four women with their own secrets: Annitti, a Trojan goldsmith; Sophia, the wife of archaeologist, Heinrich Schliemann; Safinova, a Soviet Trophy Brigade Major; and Freyja’s granddaughter, Mia, who seeks to solve the mystery of the gold’s disappearance.
Elisabeth Storrs
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